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Rosenthal Mutakati
I ALMOST crawled out of my skin with anger after reading an article suggesting that sungura ace Alick Macheso was a spent force.
Nothing is as vulgar and demeaning as that statement.
“A prophet is not recognised in his home,” goes an ancient proverb, which also finds itself in the columns of the Holy Bible in Luke 4:24.
The latest offering by Alick Macheso, ‘Kupa Kuturika (Kupa Kunopa),’ is nothing short of a polished work of art which clearly evidences the growth of the artist, in terms of lyrics and instrumentation, from the first time he entered the musical arena with the album ‘Magariro’.
During his professional vocation, American singer Michael Jackson (1958–2009) released 10 studio albums, five soundtrack albums, 35 compilation albums, 10 video albums and seven remix albums.
William Shakespeare, an English poet and playwright who is considered a key member of the English literature canon, wrote countless plays.
Shakespeare’s work includes 154 sonnets and 38 plays while his earlier plays were comedies and histories, his later work focused on tragedy as in the case with Macbeth.
Shakespeare’s reputation grew after his death and especially in the 19th century when he became the world’s most celebrated dramatist.
Now, his work is reinterpreted and performed around the world. None of Michael Jackson’s works sound the same.
His projects were different. The same goes for Shakespeare. The play Hamlet does not in any way mirror Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Why then does someone have to work up one day and argue that the cut “Zvichada Hama” off Macheso’s latest offering must sound the same or better than the song “Charakupa?”
Apart from being on different albums, the songs mean different things and as such cannot sound the same. The same applies to the world of journalism which butters my bread.
A story on an earthquake cannot be written the same as an accident story.
A story on a successful farmer can never sound the same as the story on the red lights district of Harare.
Every story has its own pitch and appeal depending on the subject.
Macheso is a powerful artist who has worked his way up through consistency, hard work, respect and little everything else and it is unfair to claim his work rate has gone down when the opposite is evidently true.
With the benefit of fact, Macheso’s band Orchestra Mberikwazvo is not a one-man outfit.
It is a star-studded group with the likes of Noel Nyazanda, Zakaria Zakaria, Sekuru Poto, Gift Chokumanyara and a lot others who are experienced with the guitar that they can never spend time on a useless project that soils their reputation.
Macheso deserves a 10 out of 10 on the latest album because of the infectious melodies that he has brought to the country’s listeners.
His song ‘Zvichada Hama’ is lyrically rich and reinforces the need for unity in families.
“Motokari dzako ndedzako, dzimba dzako ndedzako, mari dzako ndedzako, asi ziva zviripo zvichada hama,” the veteran artist bellows in the song which is accompanied by top-class rhythm guitar riffs and a booming bass guitar which compels one to the dance flow.
The song ‘Kuverengera’ shows the artist’s versatility.
It has a jazzy feel which connects to a bit of reggae until everything ends up in a sungura pressure cooker which makes the album the gem that it is.
On the song ‘Kunditaya’, which is a chewa word for rejection, Macheso tells his life story of being rejected by his father at infancy.
In the song, the artist cries out “Kunditayirira ngati mbuzi ine (“You threw me away like a sacrificial goat out in the wilderness.”
He also painfully complains about being raised in orphanhood yet his father was alive.
Despite the bitter lyrics, the song shows the class in Macheso as he strums his booming bass guitar with dexterity like no other artist in our motherland has done, producing a melody that underlines his status as the best.
True to the chants by Jonas Kasamba, the album is an “Atomic Bomb.”
Rosenthal Mutakati is a veteran journalist and is the Production Editor at the Harare Branch of the Zimbabwe Newspapers group
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